Liberal Army Air Field

In April 1943, before completion of construction, the initial group of officers and men of the original cadre reported. Liberal AAF was officially opened on 13 May 1943. It placed was under the jurisdiction of the Army Air Forces Pilot School (Specialized 4-Engines), II Bomber Command, Second Air Force. The mission of the base was to train Consolidated B-24 Liberator heavy bomber pilots, who were predominantly newly commissioned officers graduated from Training Command advanced twin-engine flying schools.

Additional personnel arrived during subsequent weeks. In the midst of construction, personnel acquisition moved into an intensified phase during April and May, so that the base was actively manned by the time the first B-24s to be used in training set down on the brand new runways on 20 June. That scheduling was extremely close during those hectic days can be seen in that only ten days later, on 1 July, the members of the first class were introduced to the Liberators. This is the official date of the inauguration of training at Liberal, barely six months after construction began. Initially and for a considerable time the commanding officer of the field was in charge of the several squadrons and detachments which performed the various functions requisite to the functioning of the school.

The training cycle was nine weeks in length. Halfway through the cycle of the first class, another class began the course, so that, afterward, a class graduated every four and a half weeks. By 8 December 1943 Col. R. C. Rockwood, operations and training officer, was able to tell a group of civilian employees that "we are now training approximately one-fourth of the Liberator bomber commanders trained in the continental United States". The pace of training is well illustrated in that it was not until 7 October 1943 that time was found for a formal dedication.

George McGovern, later a senator and candidate for President of the United States, trained as a B-24 pilot at Liberal.[1]

On 1 May 1944 all the separate units on the field were disbanded except for the 744th AAF Band, the Airways Communications Squadron, and the Base Weather Section. In place of the disbanded organizations the several sections of the 2525th Base Unit were created, distinguished by the nature of the service performed:

Unit Headquarters.

• Section "A" administration and services.
• Section "B" training and operations.
• Section "C" supply and maintenance.
• Section "E" medical.
• Section "F" Black personnel.
• Section "H" officer students.

In February 1945 these sections were redesignated squadrons, which remained in existence until inactivation of the field. After victory in Europe the training program of Liberal Army Airfield became somewhat erratic because of the frequent changes of policy in the Training Command. However, with the surrender of the Japanese in August, the mission of the school was definitely over.

On 7 September 1945 the commanding officer received official orders for inactivation of the field on or before 30 September. B-24 Liberators were obsolete as the postwar Air Force would retain the Boeing B-29 Superfortress as its long-range strategic bomber. Liberal field was placed at that time on a standby status, which meant maintaining it in such condition as would make possible reactivation within thirty days. Consequently, the field's activities for the greater part of September were largely concerned with the process of inactivation. On 19 September the officer students were slated to complete training at Hondo Army Air Field where the 2523d Army Air Forces Base Unit would complete the four-engine training on B-24s transferred from Liberal.

All remaining personnel, except officers and enlisted men scheduled to form the standby cadre, were put on movement orders on 29 September. Although the majority of departments were still functioning on 1 October, they were prepared to close down within a few days. Four days later, Liberal Army Airfield was turned over to the Army's District Engineer, Seventh Service Command at Omaha, Nebraska who assumed jurisdiction over the field, pending disposition. Excess buildings and demilitarized equipment were sold or transferred to other bases. Some were torn down and sales were held for scrap lumber of torn down buildings, fence posts, barbed wire and other surplus items.

During its 27 months of actual training, Liberal Army Air Field graduated 4,468 four-engine airplane commanders. In addition, 1,025 pilots were graduated from the pre-transition course conducted for a period in the middle of 1944.